Liam and Olivia top baby names in Ontario for 2011

Liam and Olivia are the most popular names for boys and girls born in Ontario, the province announced Tuesday.

Liam and Olivia are the most popular names for boys and girls born in Ontario.

Published on Tue Dec 18 2012

Old-fashioned British or Celtic seem to add lustre to baby names in Ontario, even more so than the rest of Canada.

Liam and Olivia are the most popular names for boys and girls born in Ontario, the province announced Tuesday. In 2011, 923 boys were registered with the name Liam and 977 girls with Olivia.

Nationally, William was the most popular name for boys and Maya for girls. Second most popular across Canada are Jacob and Sophia.

Liam, the short form of the Irish name Uilliam, ranks third for boys and Olivia fourth for girls.

Olivia, coined by William Shakespeare with its old-fashioned tinge, has been a popular girl’s name since 2008, the province said. Next, in order, are Emma, Sophia, Ava, Isabella, Emily, Abigail and Charlotte.

The odds of Sophia running into another girl born the same year as her with a similar name are good: Sophie was the 12th most popular name and Sofia was 20th on the list. In total, 1,555 girls born in 2011 in Ontario have some variant of the name Sophia.

For boys, Liam toppled the Hebrew name Ethan from six years as the most popular name. Next, in order, are Jacob, Lucas, Noah, Nathan and Benjamin.

Data on 2012 names in Ontario won’t be available until next year.

The most popular baby names in the U.K. in 2011 were the wizardly and princely names Harry and Amelia.

In the United States, the most popular baby names in 2011 were Jacob and Sophia.

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